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The Spanish Diversity Foundation has recently published the results of a survey of Diversity in the workplace. The study of just over 100 Spanish companies reveals inequalities in the areas of gender and age diversity and also sheds light on the situation of employment of people with disabilities, work life balance and D&I awareness programmes.

Eurofound, the European Foundation for Working and Living Conditions, has recently released its sixth edition of the Working Conditions Survey, conducting almost 36.000 interviews with employees and self-employed about different areas of work-life. In in-depth look at the survey also provides valuable information on the status quo and on trends with regard to work-life balance or employment of older workers.

While D&I work is often focusing on managers and employees with a formal professional degree, the majority of men and women work in jobs ‘on the floor’. How much do we know about their working realities and the diversity aspects that matter for them? More and more companies devise D&I programmes for individual contributors and the latest Eurofound survey provides a surprising figure: more than half of men and women share their job titles mainly with workers of their own gender.

Neuroscientists have been trying to reveal the functioning of our brain for several decades. The brains’ neuroplasticity, i.e. the ability of the brain to form new connections between neurons, can now be used as an element of diversity management. Because the brain has this ability to change over our lifespan, it is indeed a possible source of rethinking and reviewing our attitude towards diversity. Implementation of neuroscientific findings into diversity management can provide a change in diversity practices.

A large-scale survey in some 100 companies and other organisations from 10 EU Member States investigated, among other fields, the variety of Diversity Management practices of immigrant inclusion and their direct and indirect effects. The focus was on migrants from so-called Third Countries. The research also looked at constraints and criticalities as well as mechanisms and conditions that emerge as facilitating factors so that the programmes and processes lead to the desired outcomes. The focus of the report on migrants from Third Country Nations couldn’t be more relevant today, as the EU is coping with an expected 1.5 million refugees.

New research from My Family Care and the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (enei) has found that UK businesses are not doing enough to support their caring workforce – therefore running the risk of a talent retention crisis. In a survey of 1,000 consumers and 100 employers, the study found that 40% of carers don’t get the support they need from friends, family and their employer and only 38% of employers monitor the caring responsibilities of their workforce.

How do pregnant women and young mothers feel during important their most important phases? New studies show that one of three women don’t see their needs supported when they are pregnant or as a mother of a young baby. However, employers view the support of pregnant women and those in maternity leave for their own good. Two studies, one British and one German, have identified a range of issues related to managing pregnancy, maternity leave and mothers returning to work that include signs for disadvantage and even discrimination.

Do you want your employees to be satisfied and productive at the same time? Research shows that agile working holds substantial benefits for employers – if they are able to provide several preconditions and to face the obstacles of managing a mostly absent staff. German academics especially see career opportunities for women deriving from flexible work arrangements, and a new example of agile working is now being implemented by a British law firm.

An Austrian study recently investigated how jobseekers are disadvantaged based on their ethnicity. While many studies already found that discrimination based on race is widespread in the Austrian labour market, the recent research adds new and profound insights. It shows that people belonging to ethnic minorities not only have lower rates of invitations for job interviews but – after having experienced discriminatory practices – also show less motivation and worse strategies for job seeking as well as a more negative perception of their own position and possibilities for finding a job.

A systematic literature review on careers and workplace experiences of LGBT employees has recently been published in the Human Resource Development Review. It contains a discussion of empirical findings from 263 manually selected studies dating from 1985 until today. The content emerges from within business, management and broader social sciences disciplines. We have exclusively summarised the most important results on LGBT Diversity as a contribution to this year’s Pride season.

The famous U.S. apparel company Levi Strauss & Co. is very committed to a topic, which is usually not associated with D&I programmes – at least not in public. HIV or AIDS. The firm goes beyond the traditional D&I portfolio and shows that Inclusiveness is also about being open and inclusive for people in specific situations. A few measures show how Levi’s has become a positive example in this respect.

With networks for gay and lesbian employees having become a standard practice, the absence of LGBTI integration in many aspects of work life is often overlooked: transgender persons, gay employees in organisations belonging to the Catholic church, gays or lesbians in top management, homosexual images in advertisement. In two areas, we have seen surprisingly strong progress within a space of a few days: The Council of Europe adopted a comprehensive report on the discrimination of transgender people and a resolution based on this report passed its Parliamentary Assembly. Five days later, the German Bishops’ Conference adopted an amendment to its ecclesial labour law, which is likely to result in a huge improvement for LGBTI employees.